Radiology

Dr. Phillip Unger has been named a fellow of the American College of Radiology for his contributions to radiology. Organization officials said that fellowships are awarded for significant scientific or clinical research. Unger, a radiologist at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, was also chosen based on his service as a teacher and his outstanding reputation among colleagues, officials said.

The radiation doses emitted by the most common walk-through airport scanners are extremely small and pose no significant health risk, according to a new report by a UC San Francisco radiology specialist. Still, Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a professor at the university's radiology and biomedical imaging department, recommends more independent testing to ensure the scanners are operating as designed. The report published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine comes in response to opposition from privacy rights groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center to the use of full-body scanners.

December 10, 1990 | SY MONTGOMERY, Montgomery is a free-lance writer based in Hancock, N.H

In cancer treatment, brain tumors often defy doctors' best conventional therapies. Chemotherapies seldom work because the natural blood-brain barrier prevents blood-borne toxins (and medicines) from reaching the brain. The use of conventional radiation therapy is limited by the risks of damaging healthy areas of the brain. Surgery, while usually the treatment of choice, may not be possible: Some areas of the brain cannot be safely operated upon.

A convicted rapist fired in August from his job as a county hospital X-ray technologist was rehired by county managers through a contractor a short time later to do the same work at an East Los Angeles health clinic, officials acknowledged Wednesday. Gariner Beasley, 48, was fired again Tuesday and escorted from the Edward R. Roybal Comprehensive Health Center, said county Supervisor Gloria Molina.

Orange County has abruptly shut down its inspections of X-ray and mammography machines, leaving five inspectors jobless and stirring concern about the demise of a widely praised program. County officials last week asked the state to take over the 34-year-old radiological health program, which oversees inspections of several thousand X-ray and mammography machines and assists in emergency drills for the San Onofre nuclear power plant.

The radiation doses emitted by the most common walk-through airport scanners are extremely small and pose no significant health risk, according to a new report by a UC San Francisco radiology specialist. Still, Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a professor at the university's radiology and biomedical imaging department, recommends more independent testing to ensure the scanners are operating as designed. The report published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine comes in response to opposition from privacy rights groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center to the use of full-body scanners.

The radiology department at La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, 7901 Walker St., La Palma, will screen candy and other Halloween treats on Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. as a service to the community. Children must be accompanied by an adult. According to Spencer Thompson, the hospital's chief radiology technologist, the procedure is safe and effective in detecting metal components in candy and other treats.

Zoila Najera thought she dreamed too much. The 15-year-old could rattle off a long list of professions she had considered: actress, songwriter, receptionist. But because Zoila is blind, people only discouraged her when she told them she planned to get a job after high school. Eventually, she started believing them. "A lot of people just don't realize that we're capable of doing things," she said.

A 45-year-old New York medical technician who wandered into a Santa Monica police station last week unaware of his identity, or even how he got there, was released Friday from a local hospital in the care of his brother. Moz Person, a radiology technologist at Harlem Hospital Center in Manhattan, had shown up at the station the previous Monday with a bump on his head, a wallet with identification and a satchel of woodworking tools.

A former Los Angeles County health department scientist testified Wednesday that he was sure "the ax was about to fall on my neck" after his whistle-blowing efforts to report alleged safety hazards were followed by notification that his job description was being changed. Three months later, Reuven Zach said, he received a letter informing him that he was being laid off from his position as a medical radiation physicist at the Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar.

As part of an anti-terrorism effort, the Los Angeles Police Department is now equipping a helicopter and officers on the ground with devices capable of detecting potential radiological weapons or materials used in so-called dirty bombs. Police Chief William J. Bratton said a new suitcase-size device for one of the LAPD's helicopters can detect "radiation signatures" from up to 800 feet above ground. In addition, the LAPD bought six hand-held units that officers on the ground can use.

John A. Campbell, 92, a doctor who established the radiology department at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in the early 1970s, died of cancer Dec. 4 at a daughter's home in Reno, his family said. Campbell was recruited to lead the radiology department because he and his wife were known to be "interested in helping the chronically underserved," said Dr. Fred Mishkin, a radiologist who was on the faculty with Campbell at King/Drew and Indiana University's medical school.

Four months after he was investigated for a possible conflict of interest involving the hiring of a financial donor's son, the chairman of UCI Medical Center's radiology department said Tuesday that he would relinquish his post to spend more time on research and with patients. Dr. Fong Tsai is the third top official at UCI's health sciences program to announce he is stepping down since revelations of problems at the Orange hospital, most prominently a failed liver-transplant program.

A UC Irvine report released Wednesday found a conflict of interest in a doctor's $250,000 pledge to the school's radiology department shortly after it hired his son as a resident but said the donation played no part in his appointment. The report also concluded that the donor and the radiology department chairman did not realize it was a conflict of interest and recommended the school tighten policies governing how residents are hired.

Re "Donor's Son Got UCI Residency," Jan. 26 I have been involved in radiology medical education for my entire career as director at Hahnemann and Yale universities and, since 1979, at UC Irvine, where I served as director of the radiology residency program. Many of our applicants are in the top of their classes, are well published and have had extraordinary life experiences. Yet these alone do not make a good radiologist, and the skills involved in visualizing and interpreting various imaging modalities develops over time.

A young Orange County physician was accepted into a newly created residency position in radiology at UCI Medical Center the same month his father pledged $250,000 to the radiology department, according to records and interviews. Alfred Sein was not chosen by UCI during the regular selection process that determines where most medical school graduates do their residency to become a specialist.

A prolific cardiac researcher at the UC San Diego School of Medicine has resigned amid allegations that he falsified research data in at least two recently published reports, The Times has learned. Dr. Paul J. Friedman, an associate dean in the school, said in an interview Wednesday that university officials have found that Robert Slutsky fabricated research results in three recent cases, two published and one submitted for publication.

A Superior Court jury Thursday awarded $750,000 to a former Los Angeles County health department scientist who claimed that he was fired because he reported radiation safety hazards at Olive View Medical Center. The jury award followed a two-week trial in which Reuven Zach, a medical radiation physicist at the county-run facility in Sylmar, claimed he was wrongfully fired for warning his superiors that women were being subjected to unnecessarily high levels of radiation during mammograms.

Training programs for 53 aspiring surgeons and radiologists at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center were eliminated last week in a move that will increase the workload of a hospital staff already buffeted by allegations of poor patient care. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education revoked the hospital's right to train radiologists in 2002 and surgeons in 2003 after finding poor oversight of both programs.

Seven months ago, four doctors hoping to become radiologists received notice that they had been selected for coveted training spots at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center beginning on July 1, 2004. But the hospital didn't have the slots to offer. Officials sent out the acceptance letters knowing that the radiology residency program would be forced to shut down the day before the new trainees were to report for work.